By Franklin Schargel for GuidanceChannel.com
Teams offer a systematic structure to address, prevent, and solve many of the problems we face in education today that are too difficult for one person or one group to solve. In addition, effective teams:
- Allow for increased faculty, parent, and student participation
- Permit diversity of ideas and opinions to be expressed in an open, nonjudgmental forum
- Encourage "ownership" of processes
- Open lines of communication
- Provide for commitment to a common purpose and performance goals
- Share responsibility
- Provide opportunities to participate in decision-making
- Promote the exchange of feedback
There are four stages of team development:
Stage 1: Forming (members of the team get to know one another)
Stage 2: Storming (members clarify the purpose of the group and its procedures)
Stage 3: Norming (members practice and experiment in finding solutions)
Stage 4: High-Performing (team is now capable of producing positive, long-lasting results)
At each stage, members of the team need to determine:
- Which stage is the team is in?
- How can the team move to the next stage?
According to Dr. Mary Ann Smialek in her book, Team Strategies for Success, "It is critical to understand a basic concept of teamwork, that everyone has a vital role in the organization. This concept allows that team members 'figure out' what their goals should be and what kinds of problems they should be looking for, where to look for them, and what solutions are important. Consider the fact that the people at the level where the work gets done know best where the problems lie. Professional and support staff, parents and sometimes students working in teams are the essential ingredient in understanding what is happening at the places where the work gets done. Therefore, everyone in the system is involved in studying it and proposing how to improve it. Learning is part of work, driven by each person's need to be effective. Problem-solving and shared decision-making processes must address the same problem: how better to meet the learning needs of students."
Components Of Effective Teams
Leadership
Teams need a leader with a vision that shared leadership with teams, a proven strategy and practice in business, can be applied in an education environment seeking to improve work and learning processes.
Shared Vision
Another key component of teams is that they have a shared vision of their task. Lack of shared clarity about direction gets teams stuck! When was the last time you were on a team where the participants held different notions about their task? When there's no strong agreement about the task at hand, it's easy for people to bicker about whether each should be doing what they're doing. Shared vision is a prerequisite for high performance.
A Clearly Defined Mission
The easiest way for this to happen is for the team to develop a mission statement. It should read something like this: "We exist to...(core purpose). We are responsible for...( deliverables). At all times, we will follow...(ground rules.)."
Team Responsibilities
The responsibility for the success of a team does not lie solely with the team leader but with the entire team. Team members should identify a set of rules of behaviors. All team members should...
- Come to meetings prepared
- Bring up new business
- Help assign tasks
- Be involved in brainstorming
- Synthesize material
- Keep track of time
- Help other members reach consensus
- Regularly review progress
- Help the team stick to the agenda
- Volunteer for assignments
- Ask questions
- Summarize
- Offer feedback
- Keep the team focused on topic
- Compliment the team and individual members
- Encourage each person to speak
- Ensure members treat one another respectfully
- Use humor
- Suggest a break if necessary
- Ask if everyone agrees
- Confirm that there is a common understanding before moving on
- Reduce defensive behavior
- Watch body language to spot possible problems
- Develop pride in team success
- Encourage the team
The National School Boards' Association has also developed the following guidelines for effective team members...
1. Contribute ideas and solutions. Team members need to draw on their own expertise and experience. Each member needs to contribute ideas and solutions. Creative input from a variety of perspectives is the basis of effective problem solving.
2. Recognize and respect difference in others. Creative, effective teams bring together individuals with widely divergent skills and backgrounds who must work closely together to execute the tasks assigned to them. This can only be accomplished in an atmosphere of mutual respect and willingness to listen. Team members will not always agree with the ideas of other team members, but should always be willing to listen without prejudice.
3. Value the ideas and contributions of others. Input from every member of the team should be carefully weighed and evaluated, never disparaged.
4. Listen and share information. Actively listening to what other team members have to say is one of the most vital skills you can contribute to a productive team atmosphere.
5. Ask questions and get clarification. If an idea is not clear to you, it is your responsibility to ask questions until the matter is clarified. Limit jargon.
6. Participate fully and keep your commitments. In order to fully participate, you have to contribute ideas, and challenge the conventional ways of doing things.
What Are The Characteristics Of Effective Team Members?
Effective team members...
- are supportive to achieve results
- avoid "winning" or looking good at the expense of others
- keep the goal and the mission in mind
- are open to the ideas of others
- share information and ideas
- support the contributions of others
Without the enthusiastic support of all members, a team is just a collection of individuals. The unique skills and perspectives that each team member brings to the team are crucial to the success of the completion of the tasks. With those objectives in mind, schools can move forward, collectively.
